Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Cornelius Library awarded $500,000 grant for new library

Oregon’s U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici today announced a grant to help the City of Cornelius build a new library and community convening space. The award comes from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Challenge Grant program and recognizes Cornelius Library’s commitment to improve the cultural and civic life of the city.

“The city of Cornelius deserves tremendous credit for its hard work to earn this extremely competitive grant,” said Senator Wyden. “A new library and public space will provide residents of all ages with a wonderful asset for learning and community.”

“In many of our rural communities, libraries are the heart of the community,” said Senator Merkley. “They are a gathering space for people of all ages to learn and grow, and serve as a crucial link for so many Oregonians whose only internet access may be the local library. This new library in Cornelius will help enrich the community and as a bonus will provide much needed senior affordable housing. This is a great day for the Cornelius community.”

“Thank you to the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Cornelius Library is an important part of the community, and they truly deserve support for their expansion,” said Congresswoman Bonamici. “Many Cornelius residents have no internet access at home and they rely on the library for important tasks like applying for jobs or checking their children’s grades. This expansion will include a much-needed community space, increase community access to computers, and provide local affordable housing.”

“There is no better community for this investment,” said Karen Hill, Library Director. “Cornelius has the highest level of poverty and illiteracy in Washington County. The new space is designed to yield some amazing opportunities to provide new and expanded literacy and cultural services to the community.”

Cornelius expects to begin construction in December 2016 on the new three-story building that will have a library and community space on the first floor and affordable senior apartments (funded separately by development partner Bienestar, Inc.) on the second and third floors. The new library will expand from 3,000 square feet to almost 14,000 square feet, with a 100-person community meeting room, four conference/study rooms, a teen zone and large collections of children’s and Spanish language books. Because this is a challenge grant, the Cornelius Library will need to raise $1.5 million in matching funds from donors.